In the Streets of Philadelphia: Is the Democratic Party Alienating Its Base?

By Andrew Stefan, Reader Supported News

02 August 16

ast Tuesday, amid conditions of sweltering heat and humidity, Black Lives Matter protesters marched south on Philadelphia’s Broad Street toward City Hall. Thousands chanted in rhythm: “Don’t vote for Hillary! She’s killing Black people!” At the front of the march, young women raised a long banner reading “Hillary, Delete Yourself.”

Meanwhile, at City Hall, thousands more were already gathered as part of a rally calling itself “Shutdown the DNC.” The event was attended by activists of all stripes – Berners, Green Party supporters, socialists, and anti-war progressives, among others. For hours, the protesters mingled, chanted, and sang together. The crowd broke into wild cheers and applause when two young men hoisted a large cardboard coffin and carried it through the throng. The coffin was emblazoned – in red, white, and blue paint – with upside down donkeys, an image proclaiming the demise of the Democratic Party.

In the thick of the mass protests around the DNC last week, the symbolism, dramatic as it was, looked a lot more like a prophecy than hyperbole.

Word on the Street

While the Democratic Party’s literal end may still be unimaginable, the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia certainly saw significant, mass-scale rumblings in that direction. Deep discontent spilled across the city for four days straight, taking the form of marches, chants, incendiary speeches, discussion forums, and civil disobedience actions. At the center of the outrage, of course, was the Democratic Party – its platform, its rigging of the primary process (now more fully understood in light of recent email leaks), and growing concerns over the party’s general trajectory with Hillary Clinton as the Democrats’ 2016 presidential nominee. Notable intellectuals like Cornel West and Rosa Clemente made appearances at events around the city, encouraging progressive voters to walk out on the Democratic Party. Their words, more often than not, were met with thundering applause. And among those in the streets, the grievances were clear.

“They’re just another party for oligarchy,” one man commented through a megaphone at the Shutdown the DNC rally. “They don’t represent the common person.”

Criticisms against Hillary Clinton for her neoliberal leanings and right-wing foreign policy record were often front-and-center. Protesters called attention to Clinton’s support for “free trade” policies like the TPP, her vote for the Iraq War, her support for the 2009 Honduran military coup, and her role in the US bombing of Libya.

On Monday, members of a Haitian-American community group rallied near Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park and disseminated literature regarding Hillary Clinton’s involvement in suppressing wages in Haiti. They spoke with marchers, attempting to demonstrate that Clinton should be deemed unsupportable for her policies in the island country and elsewhere. Out of the conversations I heard, few people needed convincing.

Now that Bernie Sanders is officially out of the running, many progressives and other leftists feel the Democratic Party is not capable of representing their political interests or aims. Some voters are leaving the party behind.

“I have not yet decided where my vote will go in November, but it will not go to either Clinton or Trump,” Deb Ennis, an educator and Bernie Sanders supporter from Yipsilanti, Michigan, told me as we walked down Broad Street during the March for Our Lives. “I am happy to watch the ‘Democratic’ Party get what it deserves.”

Inside the Convention and Around the Internet

According to reports, the situation inside the Wells Fargo Convention Center was only slightly less tumultuous.

Following Hillary Clinton’s nomination, several Bernie Sanders delegates walked out of the convention in a concerted action to protest the decision. Some, like Shane Harris, are continuing to speak out against Hillary Clinton, even after her nomination. Other delegates have stated that they plan to abandon the Democratic Party entirely.

Meanwhile, the greater movement to reject Clinton’s nomination – and the Democratic Party as a whole – is now gaining significant traction on social media among dissatisfied would-be Democrats. Hashtags like “#DNCWalkout” and “#DemExit” are booming in popularity. They are often attached to scathing commentaries aimed at the party.

A Party Unresponsive?

With Donald Trump now outperforming Hillary Clinton in recent polls, the Democratic Party’s crisis of division and progressive alienation seems more dire than ever. And nowhere has this crisis been louder and more visible than in Philadelphia last week.

The Democratic Party, however, is proving tone-deaf to all of this. With each step toward November, it seems the party’s leaders aim to further drive away potential supporters. Consider the selection of Tim Kaine as Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential nominee and the reopening of the party to corporate lobbyist money last week. The list goes on.

Democrats ignore the mounting discontent at their own peril. To date, those who’ve underestimated the Trump campaign have largely eaten their words. If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party believe they can beat Donald Trump without the help of the progressives and left-independents who backed Bernie Sanders during the primary cycle, they may be setting themselves up for a crushing surprise with grave consequences come November.

Andrew Stefan is an editor and staff reporter at Reader Supported News. He lives in Washington DC and can be reached via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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